From Stephen King, in his 1981 non-fiction book Danse Macabre, wherein he assures us that the horror writer is a
"human being, mortal man or woman, just another passenger in the boat, another pilgrim on the way to whatever there is. And we hope that if he sees another pilgrim fall down that he will write about it - but not before he or she has helped the fallen one off (sic) his or her feet, brushed off his or her clothes, and seen if he or she is all right, and able to go on. If such behavior is to be, it cannot be as a result of an intellectual moral stance; it is because there is such a thing as love, merely a practical fact, a practical force in human affairs.
"Morality, is, after all, a codification of those things which the heart understands to be true and those things which the heart understands to be the demands of a life lived among others ... civilization, in a word.
"...If we say that morality proceeds simply from a good heart -- which has little to do with ridiculous posturings and happily-ever-afterings -- and immorality proceeds from a lack of care, from shoddy observation, and from the prostitution of drama or melodrama for some sort of gain, monetary or otherwise, then we may realize that we have arrived at a critical stance which is both workable and humane."
He has a lot more to say in the book, which is his examination of the pop-culture genres of horror, fantasy and sci-fi from 1950 to 1980. Not sure if it's still in print, but used copies can be found in second-hand shops and Ebay.
And I emphasized that little bit in the last paragraph because I could not resist thinking about the actions of certain individuals residing at top levels of our government for the last 7 or 8 years...
Hmm, hmm, hmm.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Interesting Quote
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4 comments:
I usually lurk here, but was quite taken aback by the Stephen King quote. I've never thought of him as a philosopher, but might need to change my stance on that.
Thanks!
Yeah, when he gets going, he has a lot to say on a lot of subjects. This book (written nearly 3 decades ago) recycles quite a bit of things he had already said in the forewords and afterwords of earlier work, such as his short story collection Night Shift. He usually manages to get in some little bit of philosophy in all his books, whether part of the story itself or in his commentary.
I'm not a big Stephen King fan, but that was a pretty good quote.
As for your comment at my blog, I do not work in a daycare but in a drop in centre at a furniture store. That comment is not directed at working Mom's who need to put their kids into daycare in order to earn money to enrich their and their children's lives in any way.
What that comment was, is a dig at the parents who try to push their kids into the drop in area whether the kids want to or not. The parents that will wait for almost 2 hours to sign in their child, when they could have gone and done their shopping and been finished, gone home and actually spent some time doing something fun with their family instead of sitting in front of our area screaming and moaning about how they've got better things to do. If they've got better things to do, perhaps they should go do them. I know I'd never sit there and if my child said to me that they didn't want to go in and play I sure wouldn't fight with them and try to force them to come in and run away in a hurry as my child burst into tears.
As a working Mom I'd never dig at other working Mom's who depend on child care.
...insert blushing smiley here ...
Kat,
Sorry for not having the whole picture when I commented. They do sound like crazy parents indeed, and low-lifes to boot! If anything, knowing this gives me much more respect for what you do, because you have such brief exposure to the kids you take care of, it has to be frustrating to know that you're prevented from making the more significant difference you probably could as a full-timer. I hope at least the majority of parents appreciate what you do.
In my own feeble defense, however, I do remember "back in the day," certain full-time daycare providers who showed a discernible sense of contempt for parents who used their services. There weren't many, but every once in awhile I'd encounter one. Also the usual crop of individuals who had NO business being in the profession whatsoever. Ironic, isn't it? You have the caring spirit, and only get to share it with the children for an hour or so, while others who shouldn't be anywhere near kids sometimes get to be around them day after day, often to their detriment.
Carry on ... we're rooting for you.
And I think it's nice that your store offers this service.
/v
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